Me Me Me! We went this past Christmas and my stepmom gave us some great places to eat. Two of the best meals I ever had were in NYC.

The first place we went to was a place called Tree. It is a little bitty place but had excellent food. It was the type of place where you go in and the owner is sitting at the bar having a few drinks, talking to the patrons, etc. I got the steak au poivre with black pepper corn sauce, TO DIE FOR. They are also well known for their pasta with clam and mussels I think, can't remember as I didn't get it but my stepmom and boyfriend did and they loved it. My boyfriends mom got the braised short ribs and said it was some of the best food she ever ate. So that is 3 different meals and all of us just couldn't get enough, who knows how good everything else is on the menu! It isn't touristy, at all, very tiny place!!

The other place we went was a Mexican restaurant called Zarella's. The bar is right at the front and it was PACKED so we almost didn't go in thinking the wait was forever long but apparently the bar is just a popular local hang out. We got seated right away upstairs and there actually wasn't many people even eating. It isn't your typical mexican menu so you might want to find an online menu first but we ordered their specials and freaked out over how good everything was. We all kind of shared and passed around thing. My stepmom got the fish tacos and says it was the best fried fish she ever had, in a taco or not. They have this sour cream rice that is a side and it was amazing. I definitely recommend it but again, read the menu because it isn't typical Mexican.

If you're including the Museum of Natural History on your tour (please do! It's touristy, but amazing), stay on the Upper West Side and wander around a bit. There's Lincoln Center and lots of cute (and much less crowded--it hasn't emerged as a big shopping district yet) stores on Columbus Avenue around the museum. If you're looking for NYC food staples, the UWS is also the location of H&H Bagels, which are amazing, and Zabar's, which is a famous gourmet grocery store. If you're in to historical stuff, there's also the NY Historical Society, as well as some pop culture landmarks like Strawberry Fields in Central Park and the Dakota (where John Lennon was shot). If you have the time, I'd also suggest heading over to Riverside Park, which borders the Hudson River. It's absolutely beautiful and much less touristy than Central Park. Plus, you can see the gorgeous apartment buildings along Riverside Drive.

Occasional docking incidents aside, if you want the best (and cheapest) view of the city from the water, I suggest the Staten Island Ferry. I also suggest walking the Brooklyn Bridge and stopping at Grimmaldi's for pizza on the other side--it's a long wait, but a lot of people consider it the best pizza in the city. Also, if you're looking for less touristy destinations, Brooklyn might be a nice place to explore. The Brooklyn Museum, botanical gardens, and Prospect Park are all located right next to each other in Park Slope, so you could make a nice day out of that.

If you have a nice day, I really, really recommend the Cloisters. They're way up beyond the GW Bridge (there's a bus that goes directly to them...I can't remember off of the top of my head which one it is) and located in Fort Tryon Park. It's a nice, quiet place to go and escape the crowds of NYC, and their medieval art collection and gardens are great. Plus, they're a part of the Met, so if you've already gone there in the morning, you can go to the Cloisters for free! (Although the Met is pay what you want, so this might not matter too much...also, side note, the Met has an exhibit by the Costume Institute about American women that just went up and is supposed to be great, so you might want to check that out).

Sorry this is long...I like talking about my city! I also recommend just picking a neighborhood, i.e. Greenwich Village, and just spending an afternoon wandering around. NYC is definitely best seen from the sidewalks, and even if you don't set off with a plan, you'll definitely find something to do.

Definitely stop by Fat Witch for the brownies and Eileen's for cheesecake if you're somewhere in the downtown area. I've been in fat witch brownie withdrawal ever since I moved to Mass -which might be a good thing considering my upcoming skating test!

I love High Line Park in the Meatpacking district. It's crowded but I think more with New Yorkers than with tourists.
If you want to try some ethnic food in addition to New York specialties, go to Turkish Kitchen - they have excellent Turkish food and not too expensive. http://turkishkitchen.com/
Have fun!

We went and ate at Tao. Is that Japanese, I think it is. It is pretty well known and had a great atmosphere. It is a more touristy place but we liked it anyway and the orange chicken was to die for. I still crave it. They didn't have a very big sushi selection at all, so it might be more Chinese than Japanese. I feel like this belongs in the HR thread, haha!